Monday, May 23, 2011

Game 47: Nats at Brewers

US Presswire photo

The always festive Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Nationals open a three-game series in Milwaukee tonight, and for the second straight day they won't have Adam LaRoche in the lineup or in the field. You should probably get used to that idea, because there's every reason to believe LaRoche is going to wind up on the DL after heading to New York to have his ailing left shoulder re-examined.

Whether LaRoche is sidelined for a brief or long-term period, the Nationals are left without an established first baseman. Michael Morse will get a crack at the position, and he acquitted himself well there yesterday in Baltimore. It remains to be seen if he can produce as an everyday player, something he hasn't established when given the opportunity in the past.

Tom Gorzelanny gets the start for the Nats, hoping to cut down on his recent high walk totals (10 in his last 17 1/3 innings) while maintaining his high strikeout numbers (19 over those same 17 1/3 innings). Right-hander Yovani Gallardo, who got beat around by the Nationals last month in D.C., starts for the Brewers.

I'm not in Milwaukee for this series, so please keep up the banter yourselves...

5:38 p.m. -- Couple of news items to pass along: 1) Brian Broderick, the Rule 5 draftee who was designated for assignment nine days ago, has been re-claimed by the Cardinals. The Nats, who initially paid $50,000 to acquire the right-hander during the Winter Meetings, receive $25,000 back from St. Louis. ... 2) Rick Ankiel begins a rehab assignment tonight with Class AA Harrisburg. If Adam LaRoche ends up on the DL, seems logical that Ankiel would be activated to take his roster spot.

6:09 p.m. -- It's official: LaRoche has been placed on the 15-day DL with a shoulder tear, though he's not going to undergo surgery at this point, hoping rest will help alleviate the problem. The Nats will make a corresponding move tomorrow, with Ankiel likely to come off the DL and take the roster spot.

Morse will heat up and Nix will almost certainly cool off. He doesn't draw many walks. It may all just end up being a wash unless Morse becomes the terror to pitchers he was in ST.

Brue or a "Brue-like" poster went after Rizzo in his chat today. Boz did bring up some interesting points. If you consider Werth the right field and Willingham the left-fielder ... and not as one replacing the other it lends some fodder to the notion that Mike Rizzo is great at building organizations that accent excellence in player development, scouting and the minor league farm system. Whereas at the major league level his abilities and experience might seem less than capable at this point?

CELLAR DWELLERSo you're saying that Rizzo's setting up Riggleman to fail so he can use him as a scapegoat in order to buy himself another season of 100 losses, because Rizzo's certainly gotten a free pass from the media in this town. The guy can't put a roster together to save his life and it's the manager's drama? Rizzo talks about rebuilding and he tears his offense down out of principle. Trades 85 RBIs for a reliever who can't throw straight, then spends $126 million to replace that exact number. He's doing 'divide and conquer', pitting the players against the manager so nobody looks at how anemic the farm system is, and how timid he is in making trades. He falls in love with his prospects. He's a loser.– May 23, 2011 10:40 AM

A.THOMAS BOSWELL :I think Rizzo does a good job and is a strength of the organization. But you put the negative (maybe even nasty) case out there. Fine. It's interesting.

I did some "unsettling" stats on Jayson Werth the other day. Werth is going to be the defining Rizzo moment from this period. He said This is the The Guy we need."

Okay, I looked at Werth's ROAD stats from his 3 years in Philly, to get rid of the bias of that bandbox park the Phils play in. Then, on a whim, I lo0oked at Josh Willingham's stats in his two years in DC, just to see how much better Werth would be. I was stunned: The numbers are as close to identical as I've ever seen.

Thank you CWJ and to the other "anon" who explained about Brue who also likes to post on NJ.

I've always been a fan of Morse, but I do believe LaRoche is clearly the better first baseman and the left-handed bat ... but the injury was clearly a serious problem from ST on. I never expected him to do as well as he did! It speaks volumes for the player ... cortisone shots inclusive.

I want the guy to be 100% when he plays. Natstown has already had too many experiences with guys who were bereft of the talent they once owned. I believe we (and he) deserve to see Adam LaRoche hitting on all cylinders.

Re: the Boz chat about Rizzo, I think that Brue or whomever posted it is wrong. I think his idea to transform the team was the right one, and I also think that we have encountered something of a perfect storm on offense. (a) their best player and hitter (Zim) has missed almost the entire season so far; (b) Werth and LaRoche, two big cogs on offense, have performed well below their career averages, and are young enough that it isn't reasonable to expect to see them decline yet; (c) the 'young' guys like Morse and Desmond have not only failed to maintained their levels from last year, they have taken a step back, and (d) Espy has struggled to adapt so far. Any one of these things would be reasonable to expect and plan for, but all of them happening at once? A little better luck, say (a) and (b) not happening, and we are probably 5 games or so better in the standings and generating some real excitement. So I don't think Rizzo was wrong in his approach to the lineup.

I do think his bullpen and bench construction could have been better, even a lot better, but I don't think that would have meant more than a game or two in the standings. And we'll get Zim back, Werth, Desi, Morse could all start hitting, and it could get exciting.

Manassas Nats Fan- actually a sweep would put them 1 game under .500 ;)

A sweep would be great!

The point the Nats are at right now (as Ben Goessling pointed to, and Boz recently opined on ), is where the rubber hits the road. Typical, past AAAA Nats teams would begin to fold, the manager would (yes Riggleman too Rig lovers) begin to lose the clubhouse and well we know how the rest goes.

If it goes the other way, if they can't manage to get things untracked during what Goessling refers to as a pretty grueling set of road trips, a month in which they are mostly on the road and less at home? Series losses and sweeps against the Nats begin to happen with regular frequency.

As Boz put it we'll have to wait and see. Riggleman's future with the organization is now on the line.

I am not to worried about the upcoming road trips. Plenty of folks predicted lots of gloom and doom about our trip through the division, and that went ok. I think we have more players on this team used to winning, rather than those accustomed to losing.

The Q and A with Boz today did get me to thinking that the question on spending has not gone away (The Lerners are Cheap theory) since he pointed out that the payroll is still 25 million below what market our size should have. Also he defended Stairs and surprised at the level of hatred he has developed.

OK, so I had an option tonight; Risk some rain & go to a P-Nats game, or stay home & listen/watch the WSH-MIL game. I chose the latter, only to hear/see Gorzelanny give up another pair of HR's in the first. I'm clearly brain-damaged; That is all.

Is is just me but this year Nats are a very boring team to watch. The record is not so bad but these games are so predictible and without any spark. No amount of defense or baserunning can overcome the sleepiness these games are bringing. I feel its already september and they are 30 games out of 1st place.

Ok game over tilt tilt .....they again have so little energy and it seems they expect to get out ......something that has been a plague for this team year after year after year ........ the losing never ends when your whole world depends on the turn of a friendly card

Milwaukee has a 16 - 6 record at home. Only Cleveland is better. What did you expect? The Brewers saw that Nats coming and their eyes lit up. It won't matter who is pitching. And so it begins the long slide toward complete mediocrity and last place. Veteran (read: winning) influence or not.

JaneB wants an "honor guard" for Matt Stairs? How about pall bearers for yet another Nats season, another lesson in futility for Nats fans.

Exposremain, I agree. Almost painful to watch; you know you're going to see 5-8 hits, 1-2 runs but many Ks and weakly hit balls and a well pitched game by our side. Its just so hard to watch players having so many bad ABs game after game, seeing players fail with RISP over and over. As a Nats fan its like watching the same bad movie over and over, knowing once the opposition scores that second run that unfortunately the game is probably over.

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About the Author

Mark Zuckerman has covered the Nationals since the franchise arrived in D.C. He's been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2001 and is a Hall of Fame voter. Email mzuckerman@comcastsportsnet.com.